The Perth Wildcats are banged up with Brad Robbins and Paul Rogers still sidelined, but that's no excuse for coach Conner Henry who is backing his side in ahead of three tough road games in five days.
Coming off a disappointing 17-point loss to Townsville on Saturday night, Alex Loughton, Adam Caporn and Tom Garlepp returned to Perth feeling worse for wear, but only Rogers and Robbins will be unavailable for the upcoming road trip to Melbourne, Wollongong and Sydney.
"We have come back with an additional three guys that couldn't train from the weekend. I don't anticipate guys skipping that game despite Al twisting his ankle bad and having stitches in his head and chin," Henry said.
"He will play after we've rested him today and yesterday. Adam will also play, as will Tom and we will just grind it out. Brad won't play, and he and Paul will stay at home. I'm still thinking two to four weeks for Brad and maybe still a month for Paul. We need those two pieces back as soon as we can."
While now focusing on taking on the Tigers on Wednesday, Hawks on Friday and Spirit on Saturday, Henry can't help but look back on disappointment at how his club finished the game against the Crocs on the weekend.
"It was a four-point game with four minutes to go and the final score wasn't indicative of how the game went. It was disappointing in those last four minutes that we couldn't move the ball from side to side to find our opportunities," he said.
"We were also a little quick which led to some easy baskets on their end. It was a disappointing loss but we've come home trying to regroup and have trained well."
That last quarter fade-out came after the Wildcats went almost five minutes in both the third and fourth quarters of a comfortable win over Wollongong at home without scoring, and Henry wants to see his side slow the game down and go inside more when in situations like that.
Even though Rogers is out and is one of the best low post players in the league, Loughton and Redhage are terrific close to the basket and Henry wants them to get more touches in deep.
"We have to continue to get better at grinding it out. That will mean playing slower and we are primarily a jump shooting team right now, which means we aren't putting a lot of pressure on the rim. We are trying to go inside more, but it's a little different not having our seven-footer down low and that's hurting us," he said.
"We need to get the ball down to have touches in the low block area and that's an emphasis. We just need to get better at doing it. It might be the third trip down the floor and we haven't touched the paint once, and Darnell (Hinson) especially has to realise we need to go inside and then we need to execute it."
While Perth only had a 6-11 record on the road last year and has lost its first two of this season, Henry feels they are just one win away from getting confidence to win consistently away from home.
"The most important part is to get your first win on the road to get the confidence that you can